Marvel kills Spider-Man

The skyline tells the story in this image from the 700th and final issue in the comic book series The Amazing Spider-Man.

In a Christmas gift many fans would wish they could return, Marvel comics has published the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man, featuring the death of Peter Parker.

As part of their Marvel NOW! initiative, issue 700 culminates a story arc that began a hundred issues ago, when longtime spider-man foe Doctor Octopus was given a terminal illness.

Now after 50 years of spinning webs and catching a who's who of criminals, Peter Parker is out of the hero game.

Aunt May isn't celebrating in this alternative cover of the 700th and final issue in the comic book series The Amazing Spider-Man.

But Spider-Man is still slinging from building to building; reborn, refreshed and revived with a new sense of the maxim that Ben Parker taught his then-fledgling nephew: "With great power comes great responsibility." The now Doc Ock-inhabited Spider-Man's adventures will continue with the debut of Superior Spider-Man in January 2013.

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Dan Slott, who's been writing Spider-Man adventures for the better part of the last 100 issues for Marvel Entertainment, said the culmination of the story is a new, dramatically different direction for the hero created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee.

"This is an epic turn," Slott said. "I've been writing Spider-Man for 70-plus issues. Every now and then, you have to shake it up."

The cover of the 700th and final issue in the comic book series The Amazing Spider-Man, issued Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012.

In the pages of issue 700, released on Wednesday, December 26, it's not just shaken up, it's kicked sky high and cracked wide open.

Where's Doc Ock? Inside Parker's super-powered shell, learning what life is like for the brilliant researcher who happens to count the Avengers and Fantastic Four as friends and family.

The two clash mightily in the pages of issue 700, illustrated by Humberto Ramos and Victor Olazaba. But it's Octavius who wins out and Parker is, at least for now, gone for good, but not before one more act of heroism.Editor Stephen Wacker said that while Parker is gone, his life casts a long shadow.

"His life is still important to the book because it affects everything that Doctor Octopus does as Spider-Man. Seeing a supervillain go through this life is the point ... trying to be better than the hero he opposed," Wacker said.

Wacker called it a fitting end to the old series, which sets the stage for a new one - The Superior Spider-Man early next year - because it brings Peter Parker full circle, from the start of his crime-fighting career to the end.

9 comments

I don't approve of this, a pretty stupid idea tbh

Commenter

Joe

Location

Date and time

December 27, 2012, 9:11AM

*Yawn* Marvel killing off a comic character is nothing new - they do that with surprising regularity. DC do it too. Somehow the character always seems to be resurrected a few issues later, or someone else assumes their identity and life in the superhero world goes on relatively unchanged.

Commenter

arb

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Date and time

December 27, 2012, 9:31AM

toby macguire killed spiderman years ago.

Commenter

blue

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December 27, 2012, 9:48AM

Did he die of old age? He's be, what, 70 now. That's pretty old to be jumping buildings with a spider net.

Commenter

Jace

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Sydney

Date and time

December 27, 2012, 10:00AM

Mmmm yeah that'll stick.

Commenter

DisDis

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December 27, 2012, 10:24AM

Morteeeeiiinnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!! Or maybe someone hit him with the business end of a double-plugger.

Commenter

Aaron

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Melbourne

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December 27, 2012, 10:39AM

Should've killed Aunt May and disintegrated the ashes into nothingness. Now there is a redundant character.

Commenter

Huw

Location

Sydney

Date and time

December 27, 2012, 10:50AM

dc killed off superman in the late 80s- early 90s, but he came back. Maybe we might see the return of Pete Parker one day also, anything is possible in the comicbook universe.